Smoking Cancels Out Health Benefits Of Higher Incomes
Smoking tobacco has a greater impact on life span than socioeconomic status, according to a recent study.
Earlier research had suggested certain links between health and levels of income. However, the years added to a person’s life from being wealthy may be canceled out by tobacco, according to the study published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) online.
Dr Laurence Gruer worked alongside Dr David Gordon from NHS Health Scotland, and Professor Graham Watt and Dr Carole Hart from Glasgow University. They studied survival rate data of 15,000 men and women from Renfrew and Paisley in the west of Scotland over a period of 28 years.
Researchers found that a wealthy professional who smokes has a lower survival rate than someone who is paid less but doesn’t smoke.
They followed up with participants after 14 years and after 28 years.
After 28 years, 56 percent of female never-smokers and 36 percent of male never-smokers in the lowest social classes were still alive compared with only 41 percent of female smokers and 24 percent of male smokers in the top two social class groups, according to BBC News.
Additionally, researchers noted that former smokers had survival rates much closer to those who had never smoked.
"This study provides further evidence that cigarettes indiscriminately damage and kill their users, regardless of social position," researchers said.
"Smoking itself was a source of greater health inequality than other factors associated with social position in that population."
Dr Gruer said: "This study reinforces current policies in the United Kingdom and other countries aimed at helping smokers stop smoking.
"Accessible and effective smoking cessation advice and services, as well as strong action to discourage young people from starting to smoke, are key to reducing health inequalities. With over 23 percent of adults in the UK still smoking, rising to well over 40 percent in some places and groups, it’s crucial we continue to make smoking cessation a top priority."
"The combination of the greatly increased mortality of smokers with the now much lower prevalence of smoking among the more affluent is the major contributor to the widening health inequalities observed in the United Kingdom and other industrialized countries," the researchers concluded.
—
On the Net: